Chris nearly forgot when the show started
The new timetable was still taking adjustment.
Chris admitted he needed a nightly reminder telling him what time he was supposed to be on air.
Working from home had disrupted the automatic rhythm built over years of arriving at Broadcasting House.
Scott understood.
The shift was not dramatically early.
It was simply different.
Listeners were adapting too.
People who had never normally heard the show live were suddenly at home during it.
Messages said the earlier programme was helping break up first days of remote working.
Bella wanted to thank Pavel
Listener Bella contacted Radio 1 while isolating with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
Her housemate Pavel had been looking after her while also working from home.
Breakfast.
Lunch.
Dinner.
Food left safely outside Bella’s room.
Occasional ice cream and chocolate.
Scott and Chris were touched by how much practical care Pavel had provided without turning it into a performance.
Bella wanted to say thank you publicly.
The programme helped turn the message into something musical and more elaborate than she expected.
Chris initially worried it might be terrible.
The final result was surprisingly beautiful.
Then listeners’ reactions inevitably made it sillier.
Bored and Famous reached Maryland
The new remote-celebrity feature connected with Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low.
Alex was isolating at home in Maryland, USA.
Scott expected the standard rock-star lockdown story.
Alex had something better.
He had recently moved to a farm.
There were three baby goats
Alex revealed the family had acquired three baby goats the previous day.
They were already taking over.
While Alex spoke to Radio 1, one goat was climbing around him and kissing his face.
Scott found it almost impossibly wholesome.
The rock star who might once have been associated with touring and parties was now discussing farm life while being interrupted by livestock.
Alex said the farm was helping him slow down.
The animals were also a lot of work.
Bored and Famous had immediately found the ideal visual image for remote radio.
A singer.
A farm.
A goat trying to join the interview.
Harry had created a home spa
Listener Harry was spending the day giving himself a home spa.
Scott and Chris let him join Bangers from the middle of it.
The feature captured another strange part of the new routine.
People were inventing events inside their own homes because ordinary leisure activity had stopped.
A spa day no longer required a spa.
A radio show could supply the soundtrack.
Tap End returned to the toga party
The 24 Years at the Tap End archive continued with one of Chris’s university stories.
The chapter involved a freshers toga party.
Scott and Chris even discussed whether home listeners should dress up and recreate old themed nights from their own houses.
The original story returned exactly because nobody could currently go to a student party.
Archive radio was providing experiences which live life temporarily could not.
March ended in a completely different world
The first March source began with Chris celebrating Watford beating Liverpool and listeners arguing over whether Bangers should move by an hour.
The final source had Chris broadcasting from home, a listener isolating in her bedroom, an American rock star speaking from a farm and everybody learning how to entertain themselves indoors.
The transformation happened inside a single month.
That makes March 2020 one of the most distinctive stretches in the Scott Mills Daily archive.
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